Dosing Pump Questions

[BlueTang<3]

Considering switching to a 3 pump dosing pump.
Was thinking ghl standalone. Easy to use and set up?
Is it a lot of up keep to keep the solutions full?
Whats with the bailing chambers?
What do you use for your media solutions.
Thanks

[BlueTang<3]

Why would a person go with a 4 pump option?

Thinking Calcium, Alk, Mag. What else?

[mattdean]

I use the SA3 stand alone Profilux. It's a joke to program and set up. Tell it how many times a day and how many ml's and your done! I just topped up my jugs after 4 to 5 weeks using BRS 2 part. I highly recommend the unit.

[lastlight]

Love my SA3.

Very easy to setup. I use BRS chemicals in the plain 1 gallon jugs BRS also sells. Keeping them topped up depends more on your consumption I'd say. Right now I only use 8mL of Ca and 12mL of Alk per day. I only need to adjust Mg for new water and barely ever have to add it to the display. Currently I don't use the 3rd channel.

[shrimpchips]

Vodka!

Depends on how big your reservoir tanks are and what your demand is. I'd expect on a larger system to have to refill every 1 ~3 months for Ca and Alk.

I use fauna mRin salts but will be switching to BRS soon.

[mattdean]

Love my SA3.

Right now I only use 8mL of Ca and 12mL of Alk per day. I only need to adjust Mg for new water and barely ever have to add it to the display. Currently I don't use the 3rd channel.

How big is your tank? 8ml of Ca? I dose 14ml 12 times a day!

[lastlight]

system is about 110g but I only have tiny sticks right now =)

They might be higher and more balanced if I didn't do 10g water changes weekly with a salt that is high in both but especially in Ca.

[BlueTang<3]

Wow thanks i will look into a unit setting it up on a friends tank but if i like it i may scrap the reactor. Better control of the levels this way.

Any maintenance with the unit that one should be aware of.

[xtreme]

You could always buy the SA3 now and add a fourth pump down the road if you find you have a use for it. About 100 bucks for the add on pumps. And yes they are great units, very easy to set up.

[lastlight]

Only thing I've seen that may be a concern (and would be regardless of type of doser I imagine) is that one of the solutions is sorta precipitating at the end of the tubing. Forms sort of a shell so I clean it with a toothpick every couple days. Anyone else see this? I spread my 8 and 12 mL doses into 1mL increments so maybe it's so little that it does this.

[mattdean]

system is about 110g but I only have tiny sticks right now =)

They might be higher and more balanced if I didn't do 10g water changes weekly with a salt that is high in both but especially in Ca.

What salt are you using? I have a 125 and almost exclusively frags, however, a LOT of frags and LPS as well. Things are growing very well in the tank and I assume this is why I need so much CA and Alk, however, I can never get my Ca above 400 and alk above 9. So I woudl LOVE to find a salt that can boost my parameters and require less dosing. I do 15 to 20 gallon water change weekly, by the way.

[lastlight]

Reef Crystals.

Calcium is always like 480+ and the Alk I think is around 10 or 11?

I stopped testing both in new water because they are elevated and I can't do anything about that. Mg is always between 1100 and 1250 though so I dose a lot to it to hit 1400.

I'm always around 420, 8, and 1400 but lately have had to test weekly to adapt to the Alk consumption as it's gone up.

Also...where is your build thread? SHAME!

[mattdean]

Interesting. I switched to D-D H2Ocean from Reef Crystals. maybe I should switch back. Darn! I just bought two pails:redface:

[lastlight]

Not to hijack the thread but I was looking to avoid elevated salt levels in the future. I missed a few changes and my levels dropped because I have a 10g change factored into my dosing. I'd love a salt with target levels for all 3 but that's asking for a miracle.

[kien]

I have a 4 head unit and only use two of them (Alk and Calc). I intended to use the 3rd one for Mag but I never get much of a depletion from Mag. It seems to replenish itself with the weekly water changes from my IO salt. I find that a little strange but it is what it is.

[mark]

Only thing I've seen that may be a concern (and would be regardless of type of doser I imagine) is that one of the solutions is sorta precipitating at the end of the tubing. Forms sort of a shell so I clean it with a toothpick every couple days. Anyone else see this? I spread my 8 and 12 mL doses into 1mL increments so maybe it's so little that it does this.
could you submerge the ends of the tubing?

[Reefer Rob]

I have the non-stand alone doser. In 4 years I`ve had to replace 2 of the pumps, the motors just died, but then I was dosing a ton. The only nozzle that I find plugs is the Mg, it needs cleaning every few months. I`m sure if you submerged it precipitation would be much worse.

[lastlight]

You risk siphoning your tank if you fully submerge. I think the instructions also state to not do this. Since my doser is under the floor I can't press the button to see if it can pump past the blockage/skinned over end of the tube so I just clean it out quick. I imagine it still pushes past it but I'd rather be safe.

[mark]

You risk siphoning your tank if you fully submerge. I think the instructions also state to not do this. Since my doser is under the floor I can't press the button to see if it can pump past the blockage/skinned over end of the tube so I just clean it out quick. I imagine it still pushes past it but I'd rather be safe.
why would you siphon, thought the rollers continuously press on the tube.

[mattdean]

It was my understanding (and the reason I went with the Profilux) that the Profilux won't back siphon, but other dosing pumps may if the tube is submergerd. Still, I wouldn't risk it.

[spawn]

Excellent post. Thanks to all for the info, as I am about to by my first doser.

[Myka]

I use two Drew's Dosers from BRS for calcium and alkalinity, these dosers don't back siphon at all. I have them each hooked up to a digital timer. I use the Fauna Marin balling salts. I dose magnesium into my water change water, and am now just noticing this isn't keeping up anymore, so I should buy a third doser. These dosers aren't as cool as the Profilux with all the digital fanciness, but they are reliable and are much more cost effective than the Profilum SA dosers. I was looking at Profilux, but decided on Drew's Dosers because I couldn't justify the extra cost.

When comparing how much each person doses, keep in mind that people use different concentrations. I mix up a 5 gallon pail of each solution that I keep sealed to prevent evaporation. I have 3.5 liter jugs attached to the dosers, and I just use the 5 gallon pails to fill them up. I dose about 80 mL of each solution per day split into 3 doses. Calcium during the day, and alkalinity at night.

I don't get any sort of crust on the ends of the tubing, the ends are out of the water. I hooked up these dosers in April I think, I haven't cleaned them yet, and it doesn't look like they need cleaning.

Oh, and the "chambers" are just expensive containers to hold the dosing solution. I use Rubbermaid containers with a small hole drilled in the top for the airline tubing.

[phi delt reefer]

+1 to Myka - get the drew's doser or the BRS two part ones (may go back on sale on boxing day to 69.99 each as per black friday so hold off if you can. I dont believe doser's can back siphon just given their design (liquid is pinched out in one direction) It's not a free flowing tube so its not like the return line in your tank. I am going to use some snazzy VOGA wine bottles i have laying around as dosing containers;

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af43/vinceispatel/P1010110.jpg

[fishytime]

All I have is a SA2.... Very easy to adjust:biggrin:.....I needed very little MG so I couldnt justify the extra cost to dose that little bit of Mg.....in hindsight(and I know I can add a pump if I wanna) the third(or fourth) can be used to drip a steady stream of phyto or how bout this.....us Zeoheads could come up with a solution containing all the Zeo foods(Extra CV SP AA and CS).....and dose that 24 times a day:spy:

[Myka]

I dont believe doser's can back siphon just given their design (liquid is pinched out in one direction) It's not a free flowing tube so its not like the return line in your tank.

Some dosers will back-siphon because they use fewer rollers. Dosers should have 4 rollers to prevent back-siphon. Some only have 3. Drew's Dosers and Profilux both use 4 rollers.

[lastlight]

So I solved my crusty hose issue =)

I dose into my external overflow box and I had the outlets very close to the weir so water coming over it mixed with the dose. With the addition of the wavebox the water was actually washing over the pipe's end every now and then and this I think was causing the drip leftover at the end of the hose to skin over.

[TDP]

I'm a regular lurker on this site but I felt compelled to post on this topic. I bought an sa3 and I use the third pump for evaporation water instead of an auto-top-off unit. Works awesome and without the risks associated with ATO failures. I was always curious why no one seems to do this but I haven't found any downsides yet.

[Myka]

I'm a regular lurker on this site but I felt compelled to post on this topic. I bought an sa3 and I use the third pump for evaporation water instead of an auto-top-off unit. Works awesome and without the risks associated with ATO failures. I was always curious why no one seems to do this but I haven't found any downsides yet.

It isn't recommended because dosing pumps aren't designed to run that much. On a tank with a lot of evaporation the dosing pump wouldn't keep up anyway. If it works for you though, all the power to ya! :D

[kien]

I'm a regular lurker on this site but I felt compelled to post on this topic. I bought an sa3 and I use the third pump for evaporation water instead of an auto-top-off unit. Works awesome and without the risks associated with ATO failures. I was always curious why no one seems to do this but I haven't found any downsides yet.

That's cool that you can pull that off with your doser. I evaporate about 8 gallons every 3 days so I could not imagine trying to run that much volume through the doser. That certainly would shorten the life of the motor dramatically. Also, the amount of evaporation varies from day to day. I would find that difficult to manage with a doser.

[TDP]

I knew there must be a reason people don't us them for evaporation. My tank is an open top 110 gallon evaporating a little over a gallon a day pretty consistently. I guess I'll have to see how long before the pump craps out but for the $100 to replace it I thought it was worth trying - might be a good solution for smaller tanks.

[kien]

I knew there must be a reason people don't us them for evaporation. My tank is an open top 110 gallon evaporating a little over a gallon a day pretty consistently. I guess I'll have to see how long before the pump craps out but for the $100 to replace it I thought it was worth trying - might be a good solution for smaller tanks.

$100 to replace my doser pump, for $10 to replace my ATO pump.. hmm.. :biggrin:

[phi delt reefer]

for those of you with tanks close to your mini bar maybe throw some phyto on a magnetic stirrer (or other liquid foods) in the fridge. Then drill a hole into the mini fridge for the feed line to the dosing pump (use a bulk head so you can replace the lines if ever needed). Have the output line dump into your tank or sump and you've totally automated your feeding as well!

FWIW you can get a really cheap mini fridge for like $69.99 when all the back to school sales start. I built my stand big enough to house that sucker when the tank finally gets setup :cry:

[MitchM]

I use my 4 pump Profilux for Ca, Mg, Vodka, Vinegar.
I use my Kalk stirrer supplied with a $35 ATO switch for Alk and for evaporation compensation I use another $35 ATO switch with a reservoir tank off my RO unit controlled by a level sensor.
I used to have an Aquamedic dosing pump setup, but with only 2 rollers, it soon became useless, even after changing the hoses.
I don't have any of the dosing pipes submerged and haven't had a problem with clogging.
I had my kalk tube submerged and had constant clogging problems.
Unsubmerged all the way!

Phi delt,

Great idea for the mini bar set-up!
Where do you get a magnetic stirrer?

Mitch